Quote:
Originally Posted by ree-Xi
Pardon the lane swerve, but generally speaking, how binding are bids that are promised/accepted prior to formal fraternity recruitment?
Is it a valid fear to worry that this might be taken away at some point before pledging begins. I'm not asking for MS info; I know that many fraternities have multiple votes that go on over a semester. This is different. It's a question about what typically happens as a result of summer "rush" (if there IS a typical scenario).
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How binding a bid (official or unofficial) really is depends on the campus culture and the chapter.
I would say that in general, it is important for a rushee to at least let the chapter (rush chair, good friend in the chapter) know his continued interest in the chapter. Chapters like to be wanted, but also don’t like to be strung along.
While these are generalizations, here are two examples of summer rush at two separate colleges.
At Nebraska, bids extend during summer rush have some sort of a specific acceptance date set by each chapter. It could be the rushee is given two weeks to accept from the date the bid was extended. Or there may be a hard date like by August 1 for example. The reason fraternities at NU work this way is that with most of the chapters, pledges move right into the house at the start of the semester. So they need to have their pledge classes pretty much filled prior to when school starts. Now that doesn’t mean that someone who wasn’t rushed during the summer doesn’t come along and participate in formal rush that fall. They could and they might receive a bid. They wouldn’t be able to live in the house until either the spring semester or the following year. Living in the fraternity house is a major part of Greek Life at Nebraska. But in many ways, formal rush at NU is more of a formality for some chapters.
(Note: Some colleges start summer rush in May.)
At Kentucky, there are summer rush events. Because there aren’t “non contact” or “silence rules” that apply to IFC rush, a UK chapter may let a rushhee know they are interested in him over the summer. And that once they are officially able to extend to do so, they will extend him a bid. He can – in theory - accept the unofficial verbal bid at that time. During formal rush, he would still need to sign up for it and attend any mandatory event as required by the IFC. (I believe UK is moving or has moved to a mandatory open house for each chapter during the first day or two of formal rush, then the rushee goes where they want etc.) Unless it has changed, at Noon on the Thursday of formal rush week, official bids may be extended by the chapters. The rushee may not accept a bid until 9 a.m. on Friday. So even if he attended summer rush events, and was offered an oral bid, it is not official until Thursday at Noon when he gets it in writing. At this point he has another 21 hours to think it over. On the flip side, if he does something between the summer rush events and that Thursday, the chapter is under no obligation to extend him an official bid. For example, if he is seen attending other parties, the chapter may feel he isn’t really that interested in them anymore.
I want to also throw Ole Miss into the mix. Mississippi has a more structured formal rush usually in late September or early/mid October. However, they also have summer rush events. So similar to UK, Ole Miss chapters often “line up” pledge classes during the summer. Yet they are not able to extend the official bid until a certain date in the formal rush process. If someone is going through the formal rush thinking they have a bid in hand, they could end up being cut if they show more interest in other chapters. Or they may find out that they like some other chapter more during the formal rush process. So it can cut both ways.
The bottom line is that it is really comes down to campus culture. If most of the chapters at a campus fill (line up) their pledge class during the summer, it may behoove the rushee to accept. But he should only do so if he truly feels connected and wants to join etc. And while he might be able to wait, there is nothing that says the chapter might change their mind down the line. Or he might change his mind. Researching the specific campus IFC culture is a good thing.